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Mar 20
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Distributor Profile: John Day Company
Thu, 03/19/2015 – 8:00am
Mike Hockett, Associate Editor
From left, John Day Co. Outside Sales Manager Steve Regan, President & CFO Nancy Kurtenbach, CEO John Fonda, and Inside Sales Manager & COO Duane Chamberlain.
If there’s one word that describes what has allowed John Day Company to remain a successful, family-owned company for 106 years, it’s stability.
That comes from the Omaha, NE-based industrial and agricultural supplier’s management, where its top four members have a combined 144 years of experience with the company. CEO John Fonda, great grandson of founder John Day Sr., has been there for 35 years, 20 of those as president. Current president and CFO, Nancy Kurtenbach, has been there 29 years. COO and Inside Sales Manager Duane Chamberlain is 37 years in, while Outside Sales Manager Steve Regan is at 43 years.
That wealth of experience is what drives success at John Day today.
“It’s our level of technical support and our knowledge base,” says Kurtenbach. “We have a lot of long-term employees who have been in the business and the industry. Someone can call one of them and they won’t need a part number. We know our products. We know where to get products. There’s a lot of depth and resources there that really set us apart.”
“We’re 106 years old, and none of us look that age,” Fonda says with a laugh. “I think it’s given us a really strong base in our region. We’ve build a good reputation out here. Our customers know who the John Day Company is and we’re going to stand by the products that we sell.”
The Personal Touch
Being an independent company of around 100 employees, many have to wear multiple hats for JDC to provide its myriad of services besides just product supply. Given the rapid escalation of merger and acquisition activity in the market, the company says its stability is what has attracted new hires. “I think a lot of people – they work for someone who gets bought and they get laid off, and maybe hired back – I think our applicants see John Day Company as a very stable company, and family-oriented,” says Kurtenbach.
Part of the appeal of working at JDC is also its accessibility. With many employees taking on multiple roles, they get to see and touch and have a hand in many operations. That, and they can contact Nancy by just stopping by her office when need be. That’s a luxury most wholesale chains can’t offer. “They know who Nancy is as the president of the company. She’s there every day,” Fonda says. “If you’re working for XYZ and at a branch, you may never meet the president. Our employees have developed personal relationships with all of the management team over time, and it’s a value that they can talk to anybody at any time about pretty much any subject.”
A look inside John Day Co.’s industrial warehouse space.
Value-Added
John Day Company can technically be classified as a distributor, but that wouldn’t give justice to what the company is really about. JDC is just as invested, if not arguably more, in its value-added services. It’s those services – nearly two dozen that the company promotes – that make JDC stand out from other independents, as well as their wholesale competitors.
Some of JDC’s most well-known services include power tool repair, hose fabrication, bandsaw welding, chain sling fabrication, and tool regrind, along with a number of safety solution audits, inspections, and product training.
A look inside John Day Co.’s industrial warehouse space.
“We have continued to make ourselves known and unique enough in the marketplace to be different than the catalogue houses,” Fonda says. “When you see the large corporate-managed distributors, they have a huge amount of resources to decide one day they want to get into this, into that – things that 2-3 years later may not be the focus of where they’re going. I think the things we’re doing we believe are going to be long-term in nature for our customers. The things we continue to support were not built on a whim.”
JDC has been offering many of those services for 15 years or more. Step in the tool repair department and you’ll find specialist Jim Katzer at work on something, a service he has led for 10 years. In the re-grind room, JDC can drastically extend the life of something like a carbide steel gear cutting hob by sharpening it 16-20 times. Regan estimates a brand new high-quality hob can cost between $2,500-4,000 – whereas JDC charges only $250-300 per re-sharpen. That makes such a service extremely valuable.
Fonda says JDC initially got into power tool repairing when customers said it was taking 9 months for them to get some tools back that they sent for repairs to other sources. JDC does it within a month.
While he knows his customers appreciate those services, they still tend to be thankless jobs. “They really enjoyed that when it happened, and kind of forget it over time,” he says. “They just sort of expect it in the future. Then we have to meet those standards.”
Kurtenbach says a lot of the positive feedback the value-added services get aren’t so much from the end user, but from the managers of customers who want to see their associates do what they do best and have a resource to have tools repaired, or made. “A lot of manufacturers – the maintenance people like to do these things, but you see their upper management say, ‘no, you’re busy keeping our equipment up and running. Let’s outsource some of these services to John Day,’” she says. “I think the feedback we’re getting sometimes is at a higher level.”
What’s New?
Fonda and Kurtenbach emphasized that JDC always has a project on the table to increase the company’s efficiencies. Two years ago it purchased new software that was needed to move ahead in its e-content. JDC has a full e-commerce website and is in the process of revamping it to improve its content. “Customers who use it are giving us feedback. We realized there are areas for improvement and that’s why we’re tackling it,” says Chamberlain. Less than 5 percent of JDC’s sales came through e-commerce in 2014, but Chamberlain noted that would be a narrow definition of the company’s online orders since it doesn’t account for EDI sales, of which all of JDC’s integrated supply sites use.
Speaking of EDI, John Day is working on improving automation payables, aiming to allow invoices from vendors to come in EDI right through its ERP system. Kurtenbach says that will eventually help eliminate overhead in the accounts payable department, and make transactions more accurate.
On the CRM front, JDC finished implementing Android Tablets at the end of 2014 for its outside salespeople. The tablets can be operated audibly and transcribe spoken dialogue making it easy to update customer information and call reports. The devices and the CRM software speed up and simplify when the salesperson needs to pull up customer quotes, open orders, and product information.
Fighting the Independent Fight
The Omaha region certainly hasn’t been immune to the industrial distribution merger & acquisition landscape. Midwest Industrial Tool was acquired by DGI Supply in April 2011, and Fuchs Machinery was bought by Blackhawk Industrial one month later. Now, John Day is left as one of the few independents left in the area.
“At one point you’re used to competing with other independents that have a select group of suppliers, and some of those suppliers crossed over and some didn’t. So you each had some uniqueness back in the day,” says Fonda. “Somebody had Greenfield (Manufacturing), one would have 3M, one would have Norton. So we were the last of the Mohicans.”
Suddenly having to compete with DGI and Blackhawk made Fonda and JDC re-examine its role in the industrial business. Along with developing a management team, Kurtenbach took over Fonda’s role as president in June 2014. Fonda says his focus today is more on vendor relations and marketing in the area.
Overall, the focus for JDC, now more than ever, has been on how it can leverage its value-added services to set itself apart. “How does John Day Company now go into a marketplace when you have MSC, DGI, Grainger – those who have everything, and then ask how you are going to stand out?” Fonda says. “The new focus for us has to be to add value to the suppliers we determine are going to help make our future tomorrow.”
As one of the region’s last independent distributors, JDC has partnered closely with its top suppliers. Fonda said JDC has been determining what key suppliers it wants to market with, and hopes customers can see the difference between a company like John Day as opposed to a large wholesaler.
“I think, really, the suppliers do see us as a business partner,” Kurtenbach says. “Even on the customer side, they are more open to working with us and our suppliers because of the long-term relationships.”
Kurtenbach notes how at larger companies, there are still a lot of local employees who have always been there, but buyouts have deteriorated the relationships with customers that John Day maintains. A lot of the business relationships JDC currently has go back 50 or 60 years – the same companies John’s dad and grandfather worked with.
So has Fonda and John Day Company been approached to be acquired? Indeed. Fonda said some of the wholesalers who have contacted JDC are ones mentioned above. But given the history of JDC, he has no intention of giving in. Fonda says he relishes the unique opportunities that being an independent offers – like flexibility, having resources in-house and always ready, and not being tied down to having to work with someone in different locations for different projects.
“We’ve always been a family-owned business,” Fonda says. “We have a hundred associates, and my dad used to always say you could take that times four, so there’s 400 people out there we’re feeding. And we have a good legacy in this marketplace of 106 years.”
Fonda also has some words of wisdom for independent distributors who may be in the same boat as JDC.
“You can’t be looking over your shoulder at what everyone else is doing,” he says. “You see the capabilities that the major players have today – they certainly outweigh what you can do. So you have to figure out what you can be good at, what is your core business, and what you are able to have your people focus on. And then you have to run your own race.”
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Jan 28
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Women in Business 2013: Geneva Fonda, Bear
Owner, Geneva Fonda Photography
By Mark Nardone // Photos by Luigi Ciuffetelli – Delaware Today / December 2013
Geneva Fonda
Bear
Owner, Geneva Fonda Photography
When have you arrived? Perhaps when you’ve been invited by Arianna Huffington to write for the Huffington Post. Fonda’s career as a photographer began when, as a teenager, she shot a wedding. From there, her work evolved into a true business that provides portrait photography and other services. That business continues to evolve, as Fonda becomes an author. Her book, tentatively titled “Her Brilliance,” relates life lessons she has learned from other women. It should be available in the spring. The dream: “I would love to create a philanthropic initiative that supports financial education, provides emotional encouragement, and inspires clients to elevate others as they have been elevated.”
Also see: Website, Huffington Post
Geneva Fonda is a professional portrait photographer, author, speaker, and writer whose work has appeared in national and regional publications such as Ladies’ Home Journal and Delaware Today. She is a proudly born and bred New York City gal, who lives in Northern Delaware with her family. When she’s not managing the family home, Geneva meditates, does yoga, and makes crafty things. She advocates fairness for others, is very passionate about giving back and is an active and supportive member of community events while managing her portrait photography business, Geneva Fonda Photography.
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Jan 09
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Estenda Solutions, Inc. Hires New Vice President of Research
Estenda Solutions, Inc. is proud to announce the hiring of Dr. Stephanie Fonda as Vice President of Research. Building on years of collaboration, hiring Dr. Fonda greatly enhances Estenda’s ability to pursue grant funding for healthcare and medical software projects.
Dr. Stephanie Fonda
Conshohocken, PA (PRWEB) January 08, 2014
Estenda Solutions, Inc. is proud to announce the hiring of Dr. Stephanie Fonda as Vice President of Research. Building on years of collaboration, hiring Dr. Fonda greatly enhances Estenda’s ability to pursue grant funding for healthcare and medical software projects.
As a scientist, Dr. Fonda has designed research projects to develop new technologies for assisting with diabetes self and care management, including a cell phone based system for sending tips and reminders to patients with diabetes, internet-based programs for facilitating patient-provider communication, patient education, and care management, and telehealth eye care programs for screening for and promoting public awareness of diabetic retinopathy.
Dr. Fonda joins Estenda’s team in addition to her role as Senior Scientist at the Diabetes Institute at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where she is principle investigator on several studies and provides education on research design and methods, conducts statistical analyses, and provides sample size calculations for new research proposals, among other responsibilities.
“Historically, Estenda has collaborated with medical professionals and PhDs to apply for grant funding,” said RJ Kedziora, CIO/CTO and Co-founder of Estenda. “Hiring Dr. Fonda allows Estenda to pursue grant funding on our own and expand our service offerings assisting professionals in crafting their grant applications.”
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Feb 15
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Fonda East Village Opens Next Week
By Florence Fabricant – February 13, 2012, 11:49 am
Roberto Santibañez is replicating Fonda, his three-year old Mexican restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in an East Village space.
Roberto Santibañez is replicating Fonda, his three-year old Mexican restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in an East Village space that is about 50 percent larger, with 60 seats and a menu of well-crafted, richly flavored regional dishes, including Yucatean shrimp, a Guajillo-style burger and chicken from the north with Chihuahua cheese. Crowd-pleasers like taquitos, flautas, braised pork in adobo sauce, and enchiladas suizas are also featured.
Mr. Santibañez said that the Manhattan restaurant, which is to open Feb. 21, will have more bar food and brunch dishes. “In Brooklyn, this is a neighborhood place, a hangout, and I hope it will be the same in Manhattan,” he said. His commute, on the F train, will be an easy one, too, but he is also depending on cooks who have been with him for years.
Fonda Restaurant, 40 Avenue B (Third Street), Manhattan
“For Mexican food, your prep cooks are the most important,” he said. “They’re the ones who mix the moles and pipians and those are not last-minute sauces. They take time.” He also plans to feature more mezcals at the bar. He serves only two in Brooklyn, but he thinks that his Manhattan clientele might be more interested in trying them
Fonda, 40 Avenue B (Third Street), (212) 677-4069.
Urban Daddy – February 17, 2012
Happy early birthday, George Washington. Now there was a guy who loved spicy guacamole and hibiscus-infused margaritas. Wait. It may have been wooden teeth and chopping down cherry trees. Regardless, we’re sure if he were alive today, he’d want you to have these enchiladas.
A Large Concentration of Enchiladas on Avenue B
Meet Fonda, a Mexican restaurant on Avenue B that has everything you’d want out of a Mexican restaurant on Avenue B. Good queso. Authentic mole. And a big wood bar full of powerful tequila elixirs. And it opens Tuesday. This place comes to the East Village courtesy of Park Slope (yes, the Yucatán Peninsula of West Brooklyn) and a Latin-blooded chef (the former Rosa Mexicano culinary director) who’s all about the three B’s. Braised meats. Bold salsas. And absolutely no mariachi Bands.
Not that you need an excuse to frequent an establishment that serves slow-stewed duck on soft, warm tortillas, but taking a date here would be a nice idea. See about reserving the lone booth in the house. It’s up front in the red-painted dining room and right next to the bar. Which is key, considering what we’re about to tell you.
These guys do margaritas right. Fresh fruits (guava, mango, pineapple), a touch of orange liqueur and a heavy slug of silver tequila. Just the way G.W. liked it.
More links: Zagat, Gothamist, Homesite, Menu
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Mar 22
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Fonda buildings become history
Written By: Michelle Monroe
ST. ALBANS CITY — The buildings at former Fonda paper products plant site have been taken down and now meticulous cleanup work will begin, according to St. Albans City Director of Planning Chip Sawyer. “It’s coming along really well,” said Sawyer of the demolition that’s taking place on Lower Newton Street.
Only a small structure, outfitted with hoppers remained at the site this morning and those soon will be taken down with a crane. Materials from that portion of the complex will then undergo asbestos abatement and any recyclable metal will be reclaimed. Thus far, 1,160 tons of general debris have been removed from the site along with 65 tons of mildly contaminated debris, Sawyer reported this morning.
There are a couple of areas within the former factory where there is a high level of PCBs – a class of chemicals which have been linked to cancer – and those areas will be sealed off and permanently fenced, explained Sawyer. Currently, the pieces of the buildings are still being sorted through and cleaned. Recyclable materials are being gathered and recycled as part of that process, as well.
About a month of work remains, said Sawyer today. The basement will be filled in and all of the cleaning areas and materials will need to be dismantled and cleaned. As part of the demolition, steps have been taken to insure water does not leave the site and stormwater is being treated on site before being sent to the wastewater treatment facility. Funds for the demolition project have come from the State of Vermont and the Northwest Regional Planning brownfield’s loan program. Total cost of the demolition, which began on Sept. 15, is roughly $900,000.
The paper products factory was built in 1942 and was acquired by Fonda in 1980. In 2002, about 245 people were employed at the plant, which was sold to Solo in 2004. A year later Solo announced its intention to close the factory, and the doors were shut for good in 2006. When Solo announced the closing there were 168 employees. In some local families multiple generations have been employed at the plant. The site, which straddles the town-city divide, is now owned by the city.
The future of the site is still undecided, but a feasibility study for a co-generation facility found that a facility generating 10 megawatts of electricity along with steam heat — fueled by wood chips — would be able to pay for itself in approximately seven years. The city is investigating the possibility of a private company building such a facility at the Fonda site.
Clock ticks for Fonda building
Written By: Leon Thompson, St. Albans Messenger
Demolition bids’ deadline Tuesday
The Fonda Solo Building will be demolished this summer.
ST. ALBANS CITY, VT –– Crews responsible for demolition of the vacant Fonda/Solo plant on Lower Newton Street could be mobilized and ready by May 1, according to one of the city’s development leaders. Contractors’ bids to raze one of the largest enclosed spaces in the city, are due at City Hall Tuesday. Jim Tischler, planning and development director, told aldermen during their regular meeting last week that he hopes to have a contractor’s bid to them by the second week of April.
The city has secured all funding necessary for the $600,000 demolition project, including two grants totaling $400,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and $200,000 from a state brownfields program.
The city purchased the 120,500-square-foot building on a 4.5-acre parcel in 2007 for $300,000. Toward the end of 2010, the state approved a phased-in mitigation plan to clean the contaminated site, once used to manufacture paper products. The first phase calls for demolition of the two buildings and to keep the area protected until the city has a development project in place. “It was the administration’s position that the best way to show the community that the project needs to move forward is to proceed with the use of that grant money and get the buildings demolished,” Tischler told the city council last week.
The Fonda / Solo brand lives on, with headquarters in Illinois and manufacturing worldwide.
Two weeks ago, about 65 people – more than has graced the inside of the plant for years – went on a walk-through of the site for potential bidders. Tischler said the city has already received 24 sets of plans from bidders all over New England and the Midwest. Ward 5 Alderman Joe Luneau wondered $600,000 was adequate. Tischler said demolition could come in under bid. Project specifications also require the city to recycle some materials at the site. During demolition, workers will fence off the area and post signs that warn of contamination in the area. Contaminated areas will be covered with gravel for protection. The winning contractor will provide flaggers for traffic control and also remove debris without going through neighborhoods, Tischler said.
Last November, the city council unanimously chose Weston and Sampson, a Peabody, Mass., environmental consulting firm, to oversee razing of the Fonda/Solo plant. Weston and Sampson also facilitated the bidding process for demolition. During the demolition process, the city has been working with three EPA officials, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Northwest Regional Planning Commission. The city had wanted to raze the building by the end of 2010, but delays bumped that goal to this July, the end of the current fiscal year. The city has a redevelopment concept in mind for the site, with several contenders interested in it, but city officials have been reticent in releasing any details.
The Solo Cup Company, which purchased the paper products manufacturing plant from Fonda, closed the facility in 2005 and laid-off 168 employees. The proposed remediation would occur at the surface level, with sub-grade remediation (soil clean-up) occurring once a new business has committed to the site, so that remediation and construction can happen simultaneously. Brownfields testing in 2008 revealed contamination by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), trichloroethene (TCE), and some metals were in concentrations above regulatory limits.
In the 1960s and 1970s Fonda was a leading U.S. food container company that provided paper cups and other paper products which among other uses, were found at large professional sports venues. The ink used to manufacture other products contained PCBs – potentially toxic environmental compounds – and was spilled on the concrete floor, leaving it contaminated. Groundwater on the western side of the building also contained TCE, a cleaning solvent that previously was used in anesthesia.
Also see previous post here. Solo Cup Company info here.
Note: It is not certain why the company originally took the Fonda name, but there is a family branch which settled in the area in the mid-1800’s and a local town used to be called Fonda Junction.